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I can’t start things off without thanking Delilah for this opportunity. For a debut author, getting to guest blog on a well-known, established author’s blog is a BIG deal. So, HUGE thank you!

I’m a little nervous, to be honest. I spent more than a few days trying to come up with something to blog about. I finally asked another author what I should talk about and she said share what people are saying about your book. Well, you can go read the reviews for yourself, so I won’t rehash that, but one of the things that keeps coming up in reviews is the relationship between my heroine Bree and her best friend Denise. So I’m going let you in on some of the inspiration that drove Bree and Denise.

Bree and Denise met in Iraq while deployed…just like me and my best friend — we’ll call her Sue (no, that’s not close to her name). Sue is badass. Seriously. If Special Forces had been open to women when she was younger, she’d have kicked all their asses. There is a lot of Sue in Denise. We were trailer mates for more than six months. We saw each other at our best and our worst and we came out the other side stronger for it.

She is my heterosexual life mate (kudos if you get the Jay and Silent Bob reference). We’ve already planned it out — when I retire, I’m going to build a house on part of her five acres and we’re going to raise our kids village style.

Bree and Denise’s friendship is as important to the story in Stitched Up Heart as the relationship between Bree and the hero, Jase. So with that, here’s one of my favorite scenes between Bree and Denise:

“Uh huh. You’ve got it bad, sister. I’ve never seen you like this. Not even when we got tasked to that SEAL team for two months in Jalabad.”

Bree stared off into space. “Mmm…that was good times.”

“My point is you’re completely distracted by Jase.”

“I know.” Bree folded her arms on the stall door and rested her chin on them. “He’s only been gone a few days. It’s ridiculous. I feel ridiculous and I don’t know what to do. I’m being all… what’s the word for it?”

“Girly.”

“Girly!” Bree snapped her fingers and pointed at Denise like she had just solved the world’s energy crisis. “How do I quit being all girly and emotional?”

“Don’t look at me. I haven’t done girly since I went through puberty. I’m void of emotions.”

“You do emotions,” Bree said.

Denise lifted the latch on the half door and entered the stall. The dog’s tail thumped on the ground as Denise knelt next to her head. “I do some emotions, none of which are girly emotions. My emotions usually involve fireballs and razing insurgent strongholds to the ground.” Denise pat the dog on the head and checked the water and food bowls.

Bree quirked her mouth. “Valid point. Either way, I need to figure out how to quit doing them.”

“Why?” Denise asked.

“Why?” She opened the door for Denise. “Because I don’t want to be girly. I don’t want to moon over some guy and lose who I am in the process.”

“Who says you have to lose yourself?” She swung the door closed and checked the latch. “Why can’t you figure out a way to be who you are and still fall in love with Jase?”

“Um, first, no one said anything about being in love.”

Denise gave her that look again.

“Fuck.” Bree drew the word out as she groaned. She hated it when Denise called her on her bullshit. It was easy to avoid the truth without her around. “I can’t. It’s way too soon.”

“Not according to Gran it’s not,” Denise pointed out.

“Okay, Gran lived a fairy tale. We know that’s not how life really works.”

“Says whom?”

“Says everyone except Gran. Hell, even Elsa said you can’t fall in love with someone you just met.”

“You’re referencing animated characters again.”

“Hello? Fairy tale?”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Whatever. You love my face.”

“At the moment, I want to high-five your face,” Denise told her.

*~*~*

I hope you read Stitched Up Heart and at some point call your best friend and say, “Listen to this, it’s so us!”

Thank you for having me!

Tarina

Stitched Up Heart

As an Air Force medic, Bree Marks saw the worst the War on Terror had to dish out. Now a physical therapist, she uses her experience to help other veterans heal from their physical wounds; while she battles her own emotional damage.

Blaming himself for his best friend’s suicide, former Army Ranger Jase Larken, retreated from life. To honor his best friend’s memory and assuage his guilt, he started an outdoor adventure company to help veterans with PTSD.

Bree had better things to do than catch her cheating fiance in bed with another woman. Jase is something better – for a night at least. For the first time in years, Jase wanted more. When he finds her again, he doesn’t give her another chance to run.

Jase’s protectiveness grates on Bree’s independent nature. She’s dealt with her fair share of alpha-male, door kickers and doesn’t need one telling her what to do now. But as a new danger emerges, Bree and Jase must face their pasts, before someone’s obsession with Bree destroys any chance they have of a future.

One comment to “Tarina Deaton: Relationships”

Nice to meet you Tarina. I loved your story of friendship. It is so wonderful to have a “heterosexual life mate”. (I have one too.) I like the phrase too. Thank you for sharing this inspiring antidote as well as the blurb and except of this amazing sounding book. It is now on my tbr list. Thank you. I need to go read now.